in the dead of night

in the dead of night

Geng: old night time unit. The night is divided into five shifts, about two hours each. The night was deep and there was no sound. It describes the deep night in silence.

Idiom explanation

An old unit of night time. The night is divided into five shifts, about two hours each. The night was deep and there was no sound. It describes the deep night in silence.

Idioms and allusions

It comes from the fourteenth beat of the eighteenth beat of Hu Jia written by Cai Yan of Han Dynasty: "when the mountains and highlands are wide, I can see you without any time; when the night is late, I can dream of you." Sometimes the teacher called the waiter, and the waiter agreed. The teacher said, "let's discuss with him." (Shi Daoyuan's Jingde Zhuandeng Lu, Volume 11, Song Dynasty)

Discrimination of words

Usage: as an adverbial, it refers to the silence at night